Martín Ríos

Martín Ríos (born January 1979), dubbed the Belgrano Serial Shooter, the Belgrano Madman or simply the Belgrano Shooter,

Deemed insane, he is currently held in the psychiatric unit of the Ezeiza Federal Complex in Ezeiza, Buenos Aires.

In January 2000, when he turned 21, Ríos applied at the RENAR (firearms regulating body in Argentina) and petitioned a licence of gun ownership.

Crime spree On 19 June 2005, Ríos, armed with a Bersa Thunder 380 semiautomatic pistol, shot indiscriminately at a bus, injuring the driver and a passenger, and causing the bus to crash against two parked cars. He escaped and was not identified. and at the time of his death was an 18-year-old student in his first year of kinesiology at the University of Buenos Aires. The victims were aged between 14 and 67 years old. He was arrested eight days later, on 14 July 2006, in an unrelated incident. In 2009, the Tribunal Oral and Criminal of San Isidro, Buenos Aires, acquitted him by reason of insanity; this same acquittal was upheld in 2014 by an upper federal court in Buenos Aires, reimposing the indefinite commitment at a psychiatric penitentiary unit, considering Ríos a danger to himself and others. Psychiatrist for the state, Ana María Arias, dissented in the two evaluations, calling Ríos a "psychopath who simulates (his madness) and killed in cold blood."

The rest of the medical board concluded in majority on both occasions that Ríos was not a psychopath because "(he) did not act with sadism, did not plan the shootings, nor cared about concealing (the crimes)."

As of November 2025, Ríos remained incarcerated in the psychiatric unit of the Ezeiza Federal Complex in Ezeiza, Buenos Aires, having been denied transfer to a nursing or group home by Judge Axel López, who concluded that Ríos poses a danger to himself and others, with a federal court concurring in opinion with López.

The murder of Alfredo Marcenac caused shock in society and reaction from President Néstor Kirchner, who sent a project bill to Congress to approve a national disarmament campaign. In December 2016, Televisión Pública aired a short film titled Desarme chronicling Marcenac's case and the Marcenac Civil Association work with survivors of the Carmen de Patagones school shooting to pursue a disarmament and gun control in Argentina. Desarme was awarded a Latin American prize that same year. The reviewing panel ultimately denied all petitions by Ríos, claiming that he posed a risk to himself and others. Shortly before his death, Marcenac had been active in the press opposing president Javier Milei attempts to loosen gun regulations in Argentina and eliminate restrictions to acquire weapons. He had also fiercely opposed other political attempts to soften gun control in Argentina, including in 2018, when Secretary of Security Patricia Bullrich said that those who wanted to be armed should be allowed to do it. Sangiao, who was inside a café with her boyfriend, was injured by gunfire as Ríos shot from outside before escaping. This case was not investigated

6 July 2006 mass shooting References: Victim Age DetailsAlfredo Marcenac 18 Killed. Marcenac was walking with friends when he was struck three times by Ríos.María José Álvarez 14 Passer-by. Only female injured in the attack, shot in her left elbowMartín Cristian Thiessen 18 Marcenac's friend. Severe gunshot wound in one of his legsJuan Pablo Arrate 19 Marcenac's friend. Injured in the left thighPablo Jorge Jagoe 28 Marcenac's friend. Injured in one footJorge Marchesotti 67 Passer-by. Injured in the groin and left thighDiego Antonio Claros 32 Passer-by. Injured in his right arm